Sean McManus to become chairman of CBS Sports

Keeping eye on sportsMcManus dropping news duties at CBS

Published 6:30 am, Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Sean McManus, who had held the dual role of president of CBS Sports and CBS News since 2005, said Monday he will relinquish his news duties to become chairman of CBS Sports.

McManus said the decision to focus on sports will enable him to oversee the development of CBS College Sports, to manage CBS' partnership with Turner Sports on the NCAA Tournament and to focus on upcoming rights negotiations with the PGA Tour and, eventually, the NFL.

"The two divisions (news and sports) have great challenges and opportunities, and it made sense to have me focus on one of them," McManus said. "Sports was the logical choice, since that is my foundation and where my background has been. (The decision) was extremely mutual."

McManus said among his priorities will be expanding rights opportunities for CBS College Sports, which is now available in about 40 million households and whose primary affiliations are with the Mountain West Conference and Conference USA.

However, he said the option to bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics or 2016 Olympics "is not a priority of ours right now."

"We're happy with the portfolio that we have. We're not looking to expand what we have on the (CBS) network," he said. "I would not characterize (the Olympics) as a priority for CBS Sports."

He said work is progressing smoothly on this year's NCAA Tournament, which culminates in the Final Four at Reliant Stadium. This will be the first year CBS airs the Tournament in conjunction with Turner.

McManus, the son of ABC Sports legendary broadcaster Jim McKay, has been president of CBS Sports since 1996. He joined his father's longtime boss, Roone Arledge of ABC, as the only other man to be president of network news and sports divisions at the same time.